_.

The rack was a triangular frame, on which the prisoner was stretched
and bound, so that he could not move. Cords were attached to his arms
and legs, and then connected with a windlass, which, when turned,
dislocated the joints of the wrists and ankles.

The _strappado_ or vertical rack was no less painful. The prisoner
with his hands tied behind his back was raised by a rope attached to
a pulley and windlass to the top of a gallows, or to the ceiling of
the torture chamber; he was then let fall with a jerk to within a few
inches of the ground. This was repeated several times. The cruel
torturers sometimes tied weights to the victim's feet to increase the
shock of the fall.

The punishment of burning, "although a very dangerous punishment," as
an Inquisitor informs us, was occasionally used. We read of an
official of Poitiers, who, following a Toulousain custom, tortured a
sorceress by placing her feet on burning coals (_juxta carbones
accensos_). This punishment is described by Marsollier in his
_Histoire de l'Inquisition_. First a good fire was started; then the
victim was stretched out on the ground, his feet manacled, and turned
toward the flame. Grease, fat, or some other combustible substance
was rubbed upon them, so that they were horribly burned. From time to
time a screen was placed between the victim's feet and the brazier,
that the Inquisitor might have an opportunity to resume his
interrogatory.

Such methods of torturing the accused were so detestable, that in the
beginning the torturer was always a civil official, as we read in the
bull of Innocent IV. The canons of the Church, moreover, prohibited
all ecclesiastics from taking part in these tortures, so that the
Inquisitor who, for whatever reason, accompanied the victim into the
torture chamber, was thereby rendered irregular, and could not
exercise his office again, until he had obtained the necessary
dispensation. The tribunals complained of this cumbrous mode of
administration, and declared that it hindered them from properly
interrogating the accused. Every effort was made to have the
prohibition against clerics being present in the torture chamber
removed. Their object was at last obtained indirectly. On April 27,
1260, Alexander IV authorized the Inquisitors and their associates to
mutually grant all the needed dispensations for irregularities that
might be incurred.[1] This permission was granted a second time by
Urban IV, August 4, 1262;